Projectile.



No. 723,249. PATENTED MAR. 24, 1903.

N. DENSLER. PROJBGTILE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY Z7. 1902.

N0 MODEL.

Nrrnn STATES PATENT QFFICE,

NAT DENSLER, OF BOYVIE, TEXAS.

PROJECTELE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 723,249, dated. March 24, 1903.

Application filed May 2'], 1902. Serial No -109.212. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NAT DENSLER, a citizen of the United'States, residing at Bowie, in the county ofMontague and State of Texas,

have invented anew and useful Projectile,

'at any desired point after the projectile has passed-through the armor and without the employment of time-fuses or the similar igniting devices ordinarily relied upon for this purpose.

With this and other objects in view the invention consists in thenovel construetionand arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 7

In the drawings, Figure l'is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a projectile constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a view illustrating the projectile-casing stripped from the main body of the projectile after the latter has passed through an armorplate.

The main body of-the projectile is approximately cylindrical in form and provided with a pointed front end 10, which maybe covered with lead, graphite, or the like. The central portion of the projectile is filled with an explosive compound 11, such compound being formed of any desired material and arranged within a chambe'r'formed in the body of the projectile, although the arrangement ofthe projectile may be that ordinarilyfollowed and the explosive material surrounded by a,

large number of balls or blocks, which will be scattered on the explosion of the shell. After the shell is filled the filling-opening is closed by a nut 12, having on its innerface an annular flange forming a cup-like recess for the reception of a fulminic or other detonator 14. Thenut is provided with acentral opening, through which extends a firing-pin 15, having at its inner end a disk 16, adapted to be moved forcibly against the detonator and cause the explosion of the compound 11 at the desired time. Normally the disk 16 is held out of contact with the sewn-ates means of a helical comp'ession-spring 17', su r-' rounding a portion of-the firiug-pinaud exlatter and a shoulder formed'in the nut 12.

The projectile proper is surrounde'dby'a metallic casing 19, which extends over the rear end of the projectile and around the petending between an annular flange .18 'on'the ,riphery thereof to a'point at the base of the oonidal or pointed front end of the projectile.

At the juncture of the pointed end and-me latter is somewhat greater than the main 20,over which fits the correspondingly-shape'd forward end of the casing 19, and the extreme end of said casing is 'bent or criinped inwardly over the base portion of the conical end in order to firmly hold said casing in place during handling, loading, andfiring.

To the rear end of the casing is secured an eyebolt 21, which is connected to an eye on i the end of the firing-pin by means of a wire 22, said wire being ooiledinan open space between the rear end c the nut 12 and the casing.

Owing to the presence of the spring 17, which holds the disk away from the detonator,

and may beloaded and fired in-the usual manner. 'When the projectile strikes an armor-plate, an opening, is formed therein, the

there,will be no tendency to bind on the smaller diameter of the main body of the pro-' jectile, and the latter continues to a, point beyond the armor-plate, while thecasing remains in the opening formed by the projectile. When the projectile has reached a certain point beyond the ar.mor,'depending upon the length of the Wire 22, the firing-pin is held stationary, and the further forward movement of the projectile causes the disk 16 to come into contact with the fulminate and explode the charge.

body of the projectile the diameter of the- 5 body portion, thus forming an annular flange 1 the projectile may be handled with safety stance, the casing nay be of the Where the armor is thin, as "on torpedoboats and the like,'there is danger of the projectile passing through the armor as an en-- tirety', and to avoid this I sometimesmake thecasing muchthicker in. order to ofier greater resistance and insure the stripping of the casiugfrom the projectile.- Thus, for indicated by dotted lines in'Fig. l 'oroi any other thickness which, may-be foundbest in practice.

The construction is such as to positively insure the explosion of the projectileat any desired point and the action is more reliable than i'srthe case with time-fuses, where exact results cannot be insured, or with impactprojectiles, which explode when they come into contact with the armor. I

I This to be understood that various changes in thecons-truction of the projectile maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention, which resides, broadly,'in the use of a sectional projectile whose members are separateddnring the passage of the projectile through armor orits equivalent to thereby insure the explosion of a compound carried by said projectile.

Having thus described the invention, 'What I claim is- '1. A sectional projectile of which the sections are adapted to separate during the pas- I sage of the projetile'through-a resisting material, an explosive compound carried by said projectile, and means connecting the sections to insure the explosion of said compound.

'2. A projectile comprising a body portion havingan explosive compound therein, eas:

thickness in pound carriedby said'hody portion, a casing partly surrounding thebody portion and flange' and having its front edge bent in, wardly over the base of the pointed end, and means for connecting thebody portion to the casing to insure the explosionof saidv compound.

4'. The combination'ina projectile, oi the body portion. havingia central chamber for the reception of an explosive compound, a threaded opening leading to said chamber, a nutfor-closing said opening and provided with a central pin-gniding opening,-a firing pin guided in theopening, a detouator arranged Withinthe chamber, spring surrounding the firing-pin and tending tohold the latterininoperative position, a separable casing partiyisurronnding the bodyvporti'oh of the projectile, and a flexible connecting device extending between said-casing and the firing-pin.

5. The combination. in a projectile,- of the body portion having a central chamber for: the reception. of auexplosive compound, a

threaded opening leading to said chamber, a nut for closing said opening and provided with a central pin-guiding opening, an annular flange disposed on the innerface oft-he nut and forming a cup-like chamber for the reception of a detonator, afiring-pin guided in the nut-opening and, having at itsinner end a disk for engaging the detonatoxgfia spring surrounding the firing-pin and normally tending to 'hold the disk away from said det'onator, a removable casingsurrounding a portion of the projectile, an eyebolt carried by'said casing, and a Wire connecting said eyebolt to the end of the firing-pin, sub.-

stantially as specified. r y

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of' two itnesses.

N AT DENSLER,

Witnesses:

W. L. BOYD, v G; N. FoREMAN; 

